Beloit College Mindset List

Posted: Wed 11:19 AM, Aug 23, 2006&nbsp|&nbsp

Updated: Wed 11:20 AM, Aug 23, 2006

BELOIT, Wis. (AP) -- It might be a depressing thought for anyone beyond college age, but for teens entering college this fall, the Soviet Union has never existed and there have always been giant retail stores known as "big boxes."

Also, they think D-N-A fingerprinting has always been admissible evidence, beach volleyball has always been a recognized sport and dolphin-free canned tuna has always been sold in stores.

Those are some of the 75 items on the Beloit College Mindset List. The annual list offers a glimpse of how incoming freshmen see the world.

According to the list, 18-year-olds think disposable contact lenses have always been available and wars and revolutions have always been televised.

The school's public affairs director, Ron Nief (NEEF), compiles the list with English professor Tom McBride. The goal is to remind faculty members that cultural and historical references familiar to them might be unfamiliar to freshmen.

McBride says there's no reason the list should be depressing, because the items don't show how fast people get old, they show how fast culture can change.

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